Aircraft



E. HEBERT AIRCRAFT July 1, 1930.

. INVENTOR WW WMLMMM Filed April 27. 1928 ATTORNEY Patented July 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWARD HEBERT, or BUFFALO.

CORPORATION,

NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CONSOLIDATED AIRCRAFT OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK AIRCRAFT Application filed April 27,

This invention relates to ground-engaging skids particularly adapted for aircraft use.-

One object of the invention is the provision of a ground-engaging skid having a groundengaging shoe held on the end of the skid bar in a manner which is free from fastening bolts.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a skid comprising a skid bar and a ground-engaging shoe which are connected together merely by a movement of the groundengaging shoe toward the rear of the skid and with respect to the skid bar.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l is a side elevation of a skid embodying the present invention, as applied to the rear of an airplane fuselage r Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the rear end of the skid; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing the skid designated generally by the numeral 10 is shown asapplied to the rear of an airplane fuselage 11. The skid, as is the usual practice, is oscillatably mounted on a transverse axis 12 on a bracket 13 which is in turn rotatably mounted on an upwardly extending axis 14 so that the skid may turn about the axis 14 when the airplane is turning on the ground, the pivotal movements of the skid about the transverse axis 12 being controlled preferably by resilient or spring connection (not shown) at the top of the skid and within the fuselage.

The skid comprises a skid tube 16 the upper end 17 of which extends into the fuselage while its lower end projects rearwardly and downwardly at an angle as shown in Fig. 1. This skid tube is preferably hollow and formed of suitable material such as steel. The lower end of the skid tube 16 carries a ground-engaging skid shoe 18, this shoe being referably a manganese steel casting so that it can withstand the wear and abrasive efi'ect resulting when it-drags along the ground.

Heretofore skid shoes have been fastened 1928. Serial No. 273,279.

to the lower end of skid bars by means of fastening bolts which extend through a portion of the skid shoe or through a part welded integrally on the skid shoe. It is desirable however that the skid shoe should be of very hard material such as manganese steel to effectively withstand the abrasion to which it is subjected and it has been found extremely diflicult and impractical to produce a casting of such hardmat-erial, provided with the attaching bolt hole or holes accurately positioned in the finished casting. And to machine these holes after casting the skid shoe is diflicult, expensive and unsatisfactory operation due to the very hard character of the material. In accordance with this invention therefore, the skid shoe is attached in a convenient and detachable manner to the lower end of the skid bar without necessitating the use of attachment bolts. The skid shoe is preferably a single integral casting of very hard steel of the character mentioned and when this shoe wears excessively it can be readily and quickly detached and a new one substituted.

On the lower end of the skid tube 16 is an attachment plate 20, these two parts being attached together as by welding along the abutting edge 21 of the skid bar. This attachment plate is preferably of steel or the like, having preferably straight sides 22.

which are arranged in a rearwardly diverging relation at a comparatively slight angle to one another. Preferably the edges 22 0f the attachment plate are rounded as shown in Fig. 3. The skid shoe 18 preferably comprises a body part 23 of egg or oval shape and having a longitudinally extending depending runner 24, as shown, engageable with the ground. The upper portion of the body member 23 is provided with attachment lugs 25, two of these lugs preferably being provided on each side of the body member. These lugs are laterally grooved as indicated at 26 and the grooved surfaces of the pair of lugs at each side of the body member 23 are arranged at a rearwardly diverging relation to the longitudinal axis of the skid shoe so as to correspond with the divergence ofthe sides of the attachment plate 20. The edges or sides Ofthe attachment plate 20 fit within the grooves 26 of the lugs 25 when the skid shoe is in place, and to fasten the skid shoe on the attachment plate it is merely necessary to slide the skid shoe rearwardly with respect to the attachment plate until the side edges 22 are received tightly in the grooves 26 of the lugs. As the motion of the skid with relation to the earth is always in a forward direction there is no tendency for the skid shoe to loosen, in fact the constant dragging of the skid shoe over the ground exerting as it does a rearward pull on the skid shoe with respect to the lower end of the skid bar serves merely to tighten the two parts together. When the skid shoe wears excessively due to the abrading effect of the rough stones and other hard substances of the ground, and it is desired to replace a worn-out or broken shoe with a new one the shoe is readily detached from the skid bar by a blow on the rear end of the shoe. The shoe may then be moved forwardly with respect to the skid bar and a new shoe substituted.

The skid shoe as previously mentioned is preferably a manganese steel casting and the lugs 25 form an integral part of this casting. After the casting has been made the grooves 26 are preferably cleaned out by a grinding operation. The part of the skid which is subjected to wear is therefore a single hard v integral casting, while the skid tube 16 and attachment plate 20 to which the skid shoe is attached are not subjected to abrasive wear and it is not likely that these parts of the skids will wear out.

While the form of apparatus herein de g appended claims.

\Vhat is claimed is:

1. A skid of the class described comprising a skid bar and a ground-engaging shoe, said shoe and said bar having inter-fitting wedging portions so that the shoe may be attached to the bar merely by sliding the shoe in a rearward direction with relation to the end of the bar.

2. A skid of the class described, comprising a skid bar and a ground-engaging hard steel shoe,'said shoe having a plurality of attachment lugs and the end of said skid bar having diverging attaching edges engageable with said lugs so that the shoe may be fastened to the end of the skid bar by moving it in a rearward direction relatively thereto.

3. An aeroplane skid comprising a skid bar including an attachment plate welded to the end of the skid bar, and a ground-engaging shoe having portions engaging the side edges of said attaching plate, the side nature.

EDWARD HEBERT. 

